LTO turns down 4-M plastic cards donation

An LTO staff member shows a brand new student driver’s license at the Land Transportation Office Quezon City District Office in Centris Station. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has turned down a private group’s donation of P160 million plastic cards for 4 million driver’s licenses.

At a press conference in Quezon City on Wednesday, LTO Chief Vigor Mendoza II said they decided not to accept the offer from the Philippine Society of Medicine for Drivers (PSMeD) to pave the way for the crafting of guidelines for donations from the Department of Transportation (DoTr).

“We found it best to go to the DoTr. Maybe they can help us and be the one to craft the guidelines because it would be difficult if we will be ones to craft it and also implement it,” he said.

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The PSMeD offer would “always [be] there on the table and only needs to be studied well as to how we should do it,” Mendoza said.

The LTO Chief and PSMeD president, Dr. Albert Alegre, signed the deed of donation on Dec. 18. Mendoza said the plastic cards have yet to be delivered while the agency waits for the opinion of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) regarding the matter.

According to him, it was the first time the LTO would be getting such a donation, adding that the deed of donation would have to be revised to address legal issues and to conform with the procurement law’s provision on donations.

He said there should be “clear” terms and conditions that would bind both PSMeD and LTO. Transparency neededMendoza added that there should be transparency in the use and distribution of the private donation while there should also be safeguards to avoid accusations of favoritism toward the donor or allegations the donations were misused.

“If only for that reason, we canceled the donation so that we can start from zero and incorporate the OSG opinion to put safeguards and guidelines and ensure transparency. We are nationwide in scope, and we should be able to implement this in every corner of the country and assure the people that it is done properly without any favoritism whatsoever,” he said.

Mendoza said the remaining plastic card supply of the LTO would last until February, adding that he wanted departing overseas workers to be prioritized for driver’s licenses. If a shortage occurs, he said the validity of the licenses would automatically be extended to April.

But he was optimistic an extension would be unlikely with the Court of Appeals possibly lifting the injunction order granted to the losing bidder of the plastic card supply contract this month.